What causes " is not an absolute Unix-style path: " in GoogleContainerTools/jib?

Change each value to an absolute Unix path starting with '/', e.g. /data/logs.

GoogleContainerTools/jib · error · MojoExecutionException

<container><volumes> is not an absolute Unix-style path: <in

Error message

<container><volumes> is not an absolute Unix-style path: <invalidVolume>

What it means

Every path listed in <container><volumes> must be an absolute Unix-style path starting with '/'. Jib throws InvalidContainerVolumeException for a non-absolute volume path during configuration processing, and BuildDockerMojo.execute() surfaces it as a MojoExecutionException including the invalid volume value.

Source

Thrown at jib-maven-plugin/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/tools/jib/maven/BuildDockerMojo.java:138

      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<from><platforms> contains a platform configuration that is missing required values or has invalid values: "
              + ex.getMessage()
              + ": "
              + ex.getInvalidPlatform(),
          ex);
    } catch (InvalidContainerVolumeException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<container><volumes> is not an absolute Unix-style path: " + ex.getInvalidVolume(), ex);

    } catch (InvalidFilesModificationTimeException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<container><filesModificationTime> should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see "
              + "DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or special keyword \"EPOCH_PLUS_SECOND\": "
              + ex.getInvalidFilesModificationTime(),
          ex);

    } catch (InvalidCreationTimeException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "<container><creationTime> should be an ISO 8601 date-time (see "
              + "DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE_TIME) or a special keyword (\"EPOCH\", "
              + "\"USE_CURRENT_TIMESTAMP\"): "
              + ex.getInvalidCreationTime(),
          ex);

    } catch (JibPluginExtensionException ex) {
      String extensionName = ex.getExtensionClass().getName();
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          "error running extension '" + extensionName + "': " + ex.getMessage(), ex);

    } catch (IncompatibleBaseImageJavaVersionException ex) {
      throw new MojoExecutionException(
          HelpfulSuggestions.forIncompatibleBaseImageJavaVersionForMaven(
              ex.getBaseImageMajorJavaVersion(), ex.getProjectMajorJavaVersion()),
          ex);

    } catch (InvalidImageReferenceException ex) {

View on GitHub (pinned to fb949e2676)

Solutions

Change each <volume> value to an absolute Unix path starting with '/', e.g. /data/logs.
Convert backslash Windows paths to forward-slash absolute paths.
Remove invalid volume entries if they were placeholders.

Example fix

<!-- before -->
<container><volumes><volume>data/logs</volume></volumes></container>
<!-- after -->
<container><volumes><volume>/data/logs</volume></volumes></container>

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

for (String v : pomVolumes) {
  if (!v.startsWith("/")) {
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("<volumes> entries must be absolute Unix paths: " + v);
  }
}

Type guard

boolean isAbsoluteUnixPath(String p) { return p != null && p.startsWith("/"); }

Prevention

Write volume paths exactly as they should appear in the container (leading slash).
Convert any Dockerfile VOLUME conventions before porting them to Jib config.
Keep volume lists short and reviewed, since a bad entry fails the whole build.

When it happens

Trigger: Building with a <volumes><volume>data/logs</volume></volumes> entry (no leading slash) or Windows-style paths under <container><volumes> in the pom or via -Djib.container.volumes overrides.

Common situations: Mirroring Dockerfile VOLUME directives that used relative or Windows paths; generating the volume list from properties that lost the leading slash; hand-editing the XML in an editor that stripped the slash or used backslashes.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of GoogleContainerTools/jib@fb949e2676 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/638359d5b20eec65. Report an issue: GitHub.